Reliability of the Family History Method in Genetic Studies of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias

The investigation of genetic and other causes of Alzheimer’s disease requires reliable and valid methods of gathering historical data on elderly relatives. To assess the reliability of the family history method in the study of late-onset dementing illness, the authors studied families with Alzheimer’s disease probands and control families. The results indicated that family history data obtained from multiple informants with standardized instruments are consistent across informants. The rate of Alzheimer’s disease in the families studied was similar to rates found in previous studies. (Am J Psychiatry 143:1279-1282, 1986) R ecent research on Alzheimer’s disease has drawn attention to the possible role of genetic factors in the etiology of this illness (1-6). The investigation of genetic and other causes requires reliable methods of gathering data on familial aggregation. In this paper, we examine some well-known methodologic diffi-culties in gathering such data and describe techniques that yield reliable results